1. Field
The following description relates generally to wireless network communications, and more particularly to assigning and/or utilizing transmission resources.
2. Background
Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication content such as, for example, voice, data, and so on. Typical wireless communication systems may be multiple-access systems capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing available system resources (e.g., bandwidth, transmit power, . . . ). Examples of such multiple-access systems may include code division multiple access (CDMA) systems, time division multiple access (TDMA) systems, frequency division multiple access (FDMA) systems, orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) systems, and the like. Additionally, the systems can conform to specifications such as third generation partnership project (3GPP), 3GPP long term evolution (LTE), ultra mobile broadband (UMB), evolution data optimized (EV-DO), etc.
Generally, wireless multiple-access communication systems may simultaneously support communication for multiple mobile devices. Each mobile device may communicate with one or more base stations via transmissions on forward and reverse links. The forward link (or downlink) refers to the communication link from base stations to mobile devices, and the reverse link (or uplink) refers to the communication link from mobile devices to base stations. Further, communications between mobile devices and base stations may be established via single-input single-output (SISO) systems, multiple-input single-output (MISO) systems, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems, and so forth. In addition, mobile devices can communicate with other mobile devices (and/or base stations with other base stations) in peer-to-peer wireless network configurations.
In addition, in some releases of LTE, such as release 8 and release 9, communication resources are assigned using time division multiplexing, such that a base station assigns a resource block, which can include a number resource elements (or subcarriers) over a given 1 millisecond (ms) time transmit interval (TTI), such as a subframe, or portion thereof to a device. To allow for receiving hybrid automatic repeat/request (HARQ) feedback at the device for a given transmission, the device can subsequently be assigned an additional resource block at least 8 TTIs (e.g., 8 ms) later. Where a device is power-limited, however, it may not be able to utilize the entire resource block for transmitting, though it is assigned the entire resource block. Additionally, in this regard, the power-limited device transmits at a decreased data rate due to power limitation, which can pose problems for time-sensitive communications, such as voice over internet protocol. Moreover, some solutions have proposed assigning resource blocks in TTI bundles to a power-limited device for time-sensitive communications to allow the device to transmit at a certain data rate.